Water-Logged Wizard

Hey everyone! 👋 How are you doing? I’m here Here is the final piece I created for the **Splinterlands ART Contest** inspired by one of the water element Splinters.  I worked on this piece in Photoshop instead of Corel Painter, not because it was my first time or for any dramatic reason hahaahhaa, but because I hadn't used it in a while and wanted to use it again for this piece. I miss Ps? ‎ # ·Water-Logged Wizard· This is the character I have taken as a reference for this week. As a first step, I made the initial sketch, which I did in pencil in my notebook. There I decided on the pose, after several simple ideas, the proportions, and the general idea before taking everything digital. When I transferred the sketch to Photoshop, I took what I needed. On a locked layer with overlay mode, I placed a color base, just to establish the initial palette. Once I had that, I collapsed the layers and started working directly with the brush, gradually merging and improving what was already there. There is no particular reason why I used Photoshop this time; I simply felt like working with it after not using it for a while. As always, I recorded the process on video, so here are some screenshots so you can see step by step how it evolved from the paper to this final version. As for brushes, as always, I kept it simple: I generally use a brush with a little texture.... I don't go crazy with lots of brushes in Painter or Photoshop. With that brush, I built up the surface, details, and small textures. As I often mention, in Corel Painter I tend to look for a more traditional process, taking advantage of brushes that mimic classic techniques. Even there, I know that the program offers much more than I currently know how to use, ahahahhah. But anyway, in Photoshop, I decided to stick to my usual habit of working with one layer, maximum two, trying to achieve a style with somewhat harder, textured brushstrokes. One of the first things I worked on was the background, because I wanted a lot of texture for it, so I applied deliberate brushstrokes, layering and making adjustments so that it wouldn't look flat. Those brushstrokes give it life and depth without stealing the spotlight from the character. On the other hand, one of the last things I worked on was the face..... Yes I know aahahahhaha In the character details, I focused on the expression and the sense of movement... the hair, the crown, and the curves of the dress help to give rhythm, I think. I wanted her to look powerful but with a human touch, and for the magical effect of the water to be the visual focus. To achieve this, lighting was another key point, and I used adjustment layers to control contrast and saturation until it was just where I wanted it. *** # Thank you very much for taking the time to view my work. A while ago I was looking for this little shark you see down here 🦈. It’s really special to me. I won it a long time ago here, n it was done by a person many years ago but also I consider a **GREAT** **GREAT** **GREAT** **FRIEND** now n who does amazing work , very talented🤗. I thought I had lost it , I was very sad… but noooo! I got it back! Yes ! He found n sent it to me again, and I’m so happy to have it with me once more. So from now on, this shark will be keeping me company 💙 **Now yes! See you next time.**